Book introduction

　In this book, I compare the modern prison systems implemented under Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan and Korea. My central aim is to clarify the institutional similarities and differences between the two systems and to identify the factors underlying their most characteristic traits. Drawing on legal social history and imperial studies, I first discuss how prisons functioned as tools of both integration and exclusion within the Japanese Empire. My analysis then shifts to the law, discourse, and practice surrounding prison-education systems. Next, I examine labor arrangements in the two colonies’ prison systems, noting how the Taiwanese system relied predominantly on government-led prison labor, while contract systems were more characteristic of the Korean prison labor. I examine the aforementioned themes in relation to guard training, the role of ethnicity in prisoner management, and the interplay between “civilizing” ideals and everyday violence. The book’s final focus: the attempt by colonial authorities, within the judiciary protection, to reintegrate released prisoners into Taiwanese and Korean society. Especially, During the wartime they would presumably contribute to the war effort. Overall, this study demonstrates how modern legal frameworks and colonial governance intersected in shaping penal administration in these two colonies.